My Students Actually Said They Enjoyed Taking Notes Today!!!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

I couldn't believe it! Today, for my science lesson, I was presenting a power point for my science lesson. Normally, I either prepare a worksheet for the student's to fill out as I go through the presentation (which is somewhat successful, but I feel like sometimes the students can check out. All they are interested in is filling in the blanks and not really listening to the content of the actual presentation) or I have students take down their own notes in their science notebooks (SNB's)...but unfortunately what usually happens is they end up writing everything down word for word, slowing the presentation down tremendously.

I decided to take this presentation slow and model for the students how to take organized notes. Students pulled out different colored pens, highlighters, and their SNB. I have my classroom set up in such a way that the projector screen is at an angle just at the end of my whiteboard. So, as the presentation was projected onto the screen, I was able to model how to pick out the important information and how to organize it in such a way that it makes it easier to refer back to and to study. Not only did no one complain about having to write down notes (which is a miracle in and of itself), but I actually had a few students comment about how fun it was...imagine that!! This was actually fun for me (I am an organized freak!!). I will definitely keep this up. The more practice the students have, the more capable they will be in the future!! YEA for organized notes!!